Energy use and CO2 emissions of consumer goods transport. Trends of Dutch imports in the period 1969-2010

By Jelco Breeuwer

Abstract

SUMMARY
The energy use and CO2 emissions related to world-wide transportation of consumer goods have increased sharply during the last years. It is expected that this trend will continue in the future. Because the energy use and CO2 emissions related to transport have a large share in the world-wide total, transport consequently also has a large share in today’s environmental problems and depletion of fossil resources.
For the Netherlands, transport of consumer goods has also increased in the last years. This is mainly caused by an increase in the amount of imported goods, but also because the Netherlands increased its import from countries further away. It thus appears that there is a shift in the origins of Dutch consumer goods.
Predictions for the future can often be found by analysing trends from the past. Therefore, this study researches how the energy use and CO2 emissions related to the import of consumer goods to the Netherlands has developed in the period 1969-2010. The central research question is:
“How did the energy use and CO2 emissions related to transport of imported consumer goods used in the Netherlands develop over the last 40 years?”